Peterstown Elementary School Parental Involvement Policy

Peterstown Elementary School Parental Involvement Policy PART I. GENERAL EXPECTATIONS Peterstown Elementary School agrees to implement the following statutory requirements:  Consistent with section 1118, the school will ensure that the required school level parental involvement policy meets the requirements of section 1118 of the ESEA, and includes, as a component, a school-parent compact consistent with section 1118(d) of the ESEA.  Schools will notify parents of the policy in an understandable and uniform format and, to the extent practicable, in a language the parents can understand. The policy will be made available to the local community and updated periodically to meet the changing needs of parents and the school. Parent needs/interest surveys are distributed at least three times per year.  In carrying out the Title I, Part A, parental involvement requirements, to the extent practicable, the school will provide full opportunities for the participation of parents with limited English proficiency, parents with disabilities, and parents of migratory children, including providing information and school reports required under section 1111 of the ESEA in an understandable and uniform format and including alternative formats upon request and, to the extent practicable, in language parents understand.  If the school-wide program plan for Title I, Part A, developed under section 1114(b) of the ESEA, is not satisfactory to the parents of participating children, the school will submit any parent comments with the plan when the school submits the plan to the Monroe County school system.  The school will involve the parents of children served in Title I, Part A schools in decisions about how funds reserved under this part are spent for parent involvement activities. The school will build its own and the parent’s capacity for strong parental involvement, in order to ensure effective involvement of parents and to support a partnership among the school, parents, and the community to improve student academic achievement.  The school will provide parental involvement activities under section 1118 of the ESEA in the areas of improving academic achievement, mandated assessment, instructional models, and safety issues.  The school will be governed by the following statutory definition of parental involvement, and will carry out programs, activities, and procedures in accordance with this definition:

Parental involvement means the participation of parents in regular, two-way, and meaningful communication involving student achievement, safety and well being including ensuring— A. that parents play an integral role in assisting their child’s learning; B. that parents are encouraged to be actively involved in their child’s education at school; C. that parents are full partners in their child’s education and are included, as appropriate, in decision-making and on advisory committees to assist in the education of their child; D. the carrying out of other activities, such as those described in section 1118 of the ESEA.

PART II. DESCRIPTION OF HOW SCHOOLS WILL IMPLEMENT REQUIRED SCHOOL PARENTAL INVOLVEMENT POLICY COMPONENTS NOTE: The School Parental Involvement Policy shall include a description of how the school will implement or accomplish each of the following components. [Section 1118, ESEA.] 1. Peterstown Elementary School shall take the following actions to involve parents in the joint development and review of its school parental involvement policy under section 1118 of the ESEA: The LEA director meets with parent representatives from Peterstown Elementary in the county’s PAC to begin review and revision of the school parental involvement policy. Once parent input is given, the Title I teachers and principal also review the policy to see if the items listed are surely the ones that the school is currently engaged in. The policy then goes back out to the PAC parents for a final review and then is circulated to all parents in the school. The Title I parent involvement policy is also put on the school’s website

2. Peterstown Elementary School shall take the following actions to involve parents in the process of planning, joint development of the program, review and improvement of programs under Title I Part A of the ESEA :

Parents are invited to participate in the development and review of the school’s strategic plan. These same parents will also be encouraged to participate in on-going review of the effectiveness of the plan. Once the plan is complete a copy of it will be placed in the office where parents and visitors sign in when they come into the school. It will also be put on the school’s website. Information about the availability of the plan will also be noted in the school’s newsletter and finally, a brochure outlining the important aspects of the plan will be developed and distributed to parents.

3. Peterstown Elementary School shall hold an annual meeting to inform parents of the school’s participation in Title I, Part A programs, and to explain the Title I, Part A requirements and the right of parents to be involved in Title I, Part A programs. The school will invite all parents of children within the school community to this meeting.

The Annual Meeting will be scheduled on the same night as the parent/teacher conference which will be Nov. 5, 2015 from 4:00 – 7:00. The school will provide informative literature explaining Title I services at our school. A power-point presentation on the role of Title I will also be shown and presented. More information will be distributed the newsletter. Title I staff at Peterstown Elementary School have prepared information about the implementation of the school wide Title I program. The program is discussed during the annual meeting and issues/questions are addressed when necessary during the parent workshops.

4. Peterstown Elementary School shall provide parents of participating children information in a timely manner about Title I, Part A programs that includes a description and explanation of the school’s reading and math curriculum, the forms of screenings and assessments used to measure student progress and placement,. Parents are to be informed of the levels of achievement expected for both mastery and distinguished status on both high stakes testing and on progress monitoring screenings.

 Parents in each grade level are provided with the content standards for their children at each respective grade level.  Peterstown Elementary uses a program called ISTATION which is used not only for more intense skill instruction but it also assessed the progress children are making in critical skills. Information about this software and how it is used is shared at Title I parent workshops and is also discussed at parent/teacher conferences.  Parents are notified, with explanation, of student performance on high stakes testing such as the Summative Assessment.  Parents are notified, in writing, of the school's achievement status and areas of concern.  Parents are also informed about the Everyday Math program and how it operates at the school along with the supplemental phonemic awareness program for kindergarten and first grade students.

5. Peterstown Elementary School shall, at the request of parents, provide opportunities for regular meetings, held at flexible times, for parents to formulate suggestions and to participate, as appropriate, in decisions about the education of their children.

 The Title I teachers occasionally attend SAT meetings and provide input to parents on how their children are progressing in school. These SAT meetings are held whenever parents are able to attend.  Other parent workshops are held both during the day and in the evening to accommodate parents in our area, many of whom work shift work.  Parents are kept apprised to changes in intervention models such as SPI. Parent input is always welcome and suggestions to facilitate better parent participation are encouraged.

6. Peterstown Elementary School shall provide each parent an individual student report about the performance of their child on the State assessment in at least math, language arts and reading by:

Each child in grades 3-4 receives an individual student report on how well the student did on the Summative Assessment. Writing data is also shared with parents in this report. Parents are kept apprised of student strengths and weakness as well as the student's progress in school.

7. Peterstown Elementary School shall take the following actions to provide each parent timely notice when their child has been assigned or has been taught for four (4) or more consecutive weeks by a teacher who is not highly qualified within the meaning of the term in section 200.56 of the Title I Final Regulations (67 Fed. Reg. 71710, December 2, 2002):

The LEA will produce a letter for each teacher who is not HQ. Copies of this letter will be distributed to all the children taught by this and other non HQ teachers.

8. Peterstown Elementary School shall provide assistance to parents of children served by the school, as appropriate, in understanding topics by undertaking the actions described below --  the state’s academic content standards,  the state’s student academic achievement standards,  the state and local academic assessments including alternate assessments,  the requirements of Title I Part A,  how to monitor their child’s progress, and  how to work with educators:

Parents are made aware of their child’s grade level academic content standards each school year by way of Title I meetings. They are also informed about the state and local academic assessments such as WV Writes and the locally used ISTATION program that assesses student progress. The requirements of Title I, Part A are discussed in the yearly annual meeting. The individual report card for each child leaving 3rd and 4th grade allows parents a chance to monitor their child’s progress. The Early Learning Scales for pre-K and the new assessment system being piloted in Monroe County also allows parents to see how their children are progressing through the year. Lastly, results from Acuity and the locally used ISTATION give our parents insights into their child’s advancement.

9. Peterstown Elementary School shall provide materials and training to help parents work with their children in the areas of improving student achievement, (including literacy training and using technology) child development, parenting issues, and other topics as dictated by the expressed needs of parents and data.

 With each parent workshop, the family leaves with materials and/or information to assist them at home in educating their child.  Uses of technology have been demonstrated using a PowerPoint format with a resource list of useful Internet sites distributed at the Open House and annual meeting.  Other professionals within the school community such as the guidance counselor have provided parent information on relevant parent/family issues such as divorce and bullying.  The Parent Involvement program at Peterstown Elementary is driven by both the surveys/evaluations completed by parents and by teacher input. Our schedule of services is forged from this information to ensure we are using our resources wisely to meet the explicit needs of our students and their families.

10. Peterstown Elementary School shall, with the assistance of its parents, educate its teachers, pupil services personnel, principals and other staff in how to reach out to, communicate with, and work with parents as equal partners in the value and utility of contributions of parents, and in how to implement and coordinate parent programs and build ties between parents and schools.

We recognize the full range of roles that parents can play in their children’s education as well as the needs for parents and schools to develop a partnership and on-going dialog around student achievement and meeting state standards. To that end, the Title I director will find various ways to inform teachers about how to better reach out, communicate, and work with parents as equal partners in their child’s education.

11. Peterstown Elementary School shall, to the extent feasible and appropriate, coordinate and integrate parental involvement programs and activities with Head Start, Reading First, Early Reading First, Even Start, Home Instruction Programs for Preschool Youngsters, the Parents as Teachers Program, public preschool, and other programs. The school will also conduct other activities, such as parent resource centers, that encourage and support parents in more fully participating in the education of their children,

Peterstown Elementary coordinates and integrates parent involvement programs with Head Start as demonstrated by the shared programs for parents both programs offer at the school.

12. Peterstown Elementary shall take the following actions to ensure that information related to the school and parent-programs, meetings, and other activities is sent to parents of participating children in an understandable and uniform format, including alternative formats upon request, and, to the extent practicable, in a language the parents can understand:

 A Title I parent newsletter will be printed each month with pertinent dates and information.  At this time, no second language parents are a part of our community but should the need arise, every effort on the part of Peterstown Elementary School will be made to ensure that effective communication with these parents occurs.

PART III. DISCRETIONARY SCHOOL PARENTAL INVOLVEMENT POLICY COMPONENTS (Sample Template)

NOTE: The School Parental Involvement Policy may include additional information and describe other discretionary activities that the school, ,in consultation with its parents, chooses to undertake to build parents’ capacity for involvement in the school to support their children’s academic achievement, such as the following discretionary activities listed under section 1118(e) of the ESEA:

 involving parents in the development of training for teachers, principals, and other educators to improve the effectiveness of that training;  providing necessary literacy training for parents from Title I, Part A funds, if the school district has exhausted all other reasonably available sources of funding for that training;  paying reasonable and necessary expenses associated with parental involvement activities, including transportation and child care costs, to enable parents to participate in school-related meetings and training sessions  training parents to enhance the involvement of other parents  arranging school meetings at a variety of times – the school offers daytime and evening sessions for parents  conducting in-home conferences between teachers or other educators who work directly with participating children – the school has the kindergarten teachers make home visits to the home of every single kindergarten children prior to that child coming to school  arrange meetings with parents who are unable to attend conferences at school in order to maximize parental involvement and participation in their children’s education;  adopting and implementing model approaches to improving parental involvement;  establishing a school parent advisory council to provide advice on all matters related to parental involvement in Title I, Part A programs;  developing appropriate roles for community-based organizations and businesses, including faith-based organizations, in parental involvement activities.

PART IV. ADOPTION

This School Parental Involvement Policy has been developed jointly with, and agreed on with, parents of children participating in Title I, Part A programs, as evidenced by a joint meeting held with parent representatives and distribution to parents for input.

This policy was adopted by Peterstown Elementary School on October 30, 2015 and will be in effect for the 2015-16 school year. The school will distribute this policy to all parents of participating Title I, Part A children on or before October 30, 2015.

Jon E. Corbett October 30, 2015 (Signature of Title I Director) (Date)